For some reason, the paintings of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch are highly sought after by thieves. Could it be the popularity of the early 20th century artist's work in his native land or that security in Norway is not adequate around these works? Regardless of the reason, robbers made off with three works by Munch over the weekend, marking the second major theft of Munch's works in the past seven months.

The three works were taken from the Refnes Hotel, located 30 miles outside of Oslo in the city of Moss. They were kept in the hotel's restaurant according to a local police official familiar with the investigation.

Two lithographs were stolen along with the 1915 painting 'Blue Dress' which is the most well-known and valuable of the three missing works. Their value is estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

'They dropped one, and broke the frame and glass, but took the picture,' said Jan Pedersen, a local police official working on the case.

The suspects were described as two men in their 20s with dark hair being of medium height.

In August, 'The Scream' and 'Madonna,' two of Munch's best known works, were stolen from the Oslo Museum by three armed robbers. They have yet to be recovered.

The hotel's owner, Widar Salbuvik was shocked by the theft. 'It seems to be a fashion among criminals to steal Munch,' Salbuvik told the Associated Press. 'How professional is it to steal art? Great value, big risk and hard to sell. They would have to be very slow in the head to do it.'